Doorway Revelations
by flavoredair
Summary: For the past few years Rose has spent every waking moment looking for the one she loves. One war ripped them apart and another war brought them back together. Now she's on the verge of losing him again. A retelling of series 4 ending cleaning Davies mess
1. Prologue

_Basically I though to myself _If I spent two years of my life looking for the man I loved would I be satisfied with his clone?_ I decided Rose's quick decision to be with the "Meta-Crisis" Doctor was much too hasty. There was a way to come to accept him but it involved another story line. This beginning bit will tie into later the story later, I promise!_

_*Author's note*_

_Pronunciation key:  
_

_Khankiurdon (con-key-your-don)  
Coobrika (coo-bree-ka)_

**Chapter one: Prologue**

After much deliberation the deed was named treason and the traveler deemed guilty. This particular traveler was especially elusive. The hunter was chosen, Khankiurdon of the Reaper Class. Khankirudon only ever hunted. Its soul conviction was: Life without pursuit and capture is life wasted. This belief was so bred in that between summons it laid dormant, frozen in Coobrika Diamond. A millennium passed since its last conjure before the Shadow Proclamation. The order had been given to reclaim the traveler. The traveler's scent was pungent everywhere. Khankiurdon traced vernal auras back to the Medusa Cascade. Kiurdon sensed an odd flux in that region. "There used to be planets here." It hissed. It took deeps gulps of space to refresh its track. Kiurdon flew faster then any creature. It was faster than sound or light or darkness. Within a blink of the eye Khankiurdon was almost to the Milky Way. The scent was freshest here.

Kiurdon had all but caught up with the traveler. The ship was in sight. It tumbled erratically with only a few hundred light years separating the hunter and prey. Kiurdon slowed. It waited several clicks behind. For many days they engaged in a secret ballet of follow and hide. They bounced from one nebula to another. The ship landed finally on a random third planet in the heliocentric system. She was an echo of a dead race, an alien to this world, but could easily blend in without question. The traveler stepped out from the ship like so many times before, impaired momentarily with over powering light. The wind carried a faint strawberry scent, and as with all simple pleasures, it made her smile ingenuously. An angular cloaked figure, two times as tall as her, floated inches off the ground within arms distance. The creature stared at the startled alien, tightening its grip on an intimidating scythe. The reaper had no eyes, merely sockets. There were no lips, merely crackled gray skin where it met gum and teeth. The traveler collected herself. Strange creatures in strange lands were becoming the norm, but some things still shocked her. She promised to work on that.

"Hello, excuse me, I didn't mean to stare. I think I'm in the wrong place." She shot her ship a disappointed look, as though to say _like so many times before_. Inside a blink Khankiurdon was inches from her face. At this vantage the reaper could detect dual heart beats. It inhaled deeply through special glands embedded in its palm. It drank in her psychic signature. She felt a strong pull towards the creature as though the wind were at her back. The invisible force drew them closer. She was saturated with the scent the Shadow Proclamation had condemned.

"You are the defector. You will be punished." Its voice was low, nearly above a whisper and hissed from an ungodly realm.

"Sorry?" The girl backed up to the ship.

"You are being charged with abandonment at time of war by the Shadow Proclamation. You will be imprisoned indefinitely." Kiurdon held the scythe sideways.

"I'm just looking for someone." It jabbed the girl across her stomach with the scythe's grip. She stumbled backwards into her ship. The door locked. She desperately turned the engines, but they refused to fire. The Reaper phased through the ship as a wraith would. "Don't do this!" She protested. "There's been a mistake." Kiurdon descended on her. "Noooo!"


	2. Bad Wolf Bay

_This is the way series four should have ended._

**Chapter Two: Bad Wolf Bay**

If Rose had looked she would have seen the saddest man in all of creation. The Doctor shuffled back to the TARDIS, never looking for her until the door closed behind. There was a second Doctor, Rose's reward. He told her all the things she deserved to hear, and they embraced and she kissed him. The original could not bear seeing Rose deliriously happy with another man. He closed his eyes to see her. She was clear in the dark. Rose, she was beautiful and brilliant like the sun. He had to open his eyes and release the image for fear of them burning straight out from his head; but they stung anyhow. Tears betrayed his attempted composure. This moment in Bad Wolf Bay, this moment in time would be their very last. She was still here though, in the TARDIS. She loomed in a whispered melody, hung like a pleasant scent. _Mmmm, Apple Grass, I love it!_ He recalled. He was one brilliant man alone in the universe, The Doctor. He was ashamed. Rose Tyler broke reality to find him. Every waking moment was devotion. _How long will you stay with me?_ He once asked. _Forever._ The Doctor, most clever being, walked away. He was ashamed for pretending how much better her life would be, how safe she was. Reality broke. She broke reality. _She broke reality... for me._ After years of separation, that embrace was the only thing in the whole universe he wanted. Even the Daleks could not stop it. In the end Rose Tyler's mettle was tested and was better then his own.

The engines of the TARDIS roared up in its final descent from the area. Rose looked back at the peculiar blue box. Gravity hit her. She ripped away from this Doctor. The TARDIS whimpered its broken grinding cry. She ran as it blinked out of this world. Her feet stuck in the wet sand, mucking up her speed. The TARDIS' wail united with the crashing waves, before fading away. She stopped. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. Her breath was loud in her head.

Rose broke.

"DOCTOR!" It was gone, her hopes, her dreams, her love. It was all gone. Her eyes went wide and mouth slightly agape. "God, after all that time?" She looked at the sand to make sure it was still there. Her whole inside screamed from falling. "Just one last hurrah?" She bled hurt and stunned. _Who's gonna hold your hand, if not me?_ She pulled her hair behind her ears, holding it there and screamed a desperate, angry, frustrated and mostly lonely cry. The second Doctor, stoic against the raging water, clenched his jaw in intense loathe for the first Doctor. He endured for Rose, she was hurt. He rushed to her, collecting her up in his arms. Her cries came from the deepest part of her inner being. Her face twisted red and helpless. She hid in his chest. They both slid down to the forgiving sand. "Why would he do that?" Her voice wavered and broke his heart. He pleaded silently to comfort her.

"Rose, I'm here." The voice was too similar. It cut her. It was unfair.

She was too devastated to lift her head. _It's not fair._ "But you're not." Her voice strained and tapered, lost between tears.

"I am," The Doctor pressed. He choked back his own feelings. "Who did you just snog, him or me?"

She wiped her face a bit. Rose sat back a moment and sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that." Their expressions mirrored with rejection.

"I'm not." He looked just like him. It wasn't fair, just alike. It was odd. Usually things went the other way around. For once he was the same man on the outside and different inside, not entirely, but enough for Rose to notice. He sounded just like The Doctor but it was more then that. They had the same mind. She cried to him with foreign eyes. He could not stand it. "Hello." He wiggled his fingers in the air. Rose let up a little smile despite herself. He acted like The Doctor as well. "Still The Doctor." He pinched his own cheeks.

"Yeah but, Doctor Two? Doctor B?"

"I'm the only Doctor from here on in."

_How could they possibly be the same person? How could they share the same mind? The same memories? _She thought. "How long," the words were too large for her. She cleared her throat and tried again. "How long will you stay with me?" Her voice chipped at the end. Rose's emotions corrupted. Her lips pursed together, her brows tented worried. She feared her lowered guard.

The Doctor, however, stole up her hand and beamed. "Forever." Rose tore at the bottom of her lip with her teeth, midway through her biggest smile ever.


	3. One

_The Doctor comes tries to come to terms with who he is now, but he gets hung up on the same old aspirations. What _does he really want? The world or the stars?

**Chapter Three: One**

Purple clouds gathered up in the night sky, blotting out most of the moon and stars. The air was crisp, just above visible breath. Rose and The Doctor sat on the floor of the veranda off the second story of Tyler Manor. They settled in for the evening to stargaze.

Rose pointed to a twinkling jewel in the sky."And that one?"

The Doctor smiled. He exaggerated the vowels while pronouncing the name. "Gourp Turkqueu, star of the child-like race. They actually age backwards. I had really hoped to go back one day. Did you know what its like to have a conversation about Quantum Theory with someone who looks about eight?"

"I know what its like to have a conversation with someone acts about eight," Rose teased. The wind picked up her golden hair in wispy strands."How do you happen on Earth so much? I mean there's like a billion other planets, why here?"

"People, interesting little things," The Doctor tugged at his ear lobe, "they're so different from one another, and similar, but mainly the food." He sat back. "Marvelous really, you know, not one single planet in the whole universe has such a large and diverse smorgasbord. And nearly everything on this rock is digestible. Really this is the gingerbread house planet. There are other places with much more spices and ingredients, but they're not nearly as clever. I love cakes, love bananas. This is where the banana got its start too. Oh sure there are groves clear across the universe, but they all share a direct lineage to any banana here on Earth. It truly beat the human race to the stars."

"How's that?"

"I'd like to think I had a hand in that." The two giggled. The clouds passed by letting the moon, big and round as Big Ben, glow directly behind Rose. She was beautiful. The Doctor leaned closer, resting his chin in his palm, admiring her. He donned a silly boyish grin.

"Oi, remember we were on that sorta impossible planet? The one with the Ood?" Rose piped.

"Krop Tor, I remember, right under the black hole."

"That's the one. Remember what we talked about, about proper jobs and what have you?"

"A proper mortgage, I'd rather die."

"'Cept now it kind of has to happen. So what you think? Maybe since we have to do it anyhow, we can, I dunno..." she laughed. She could still taste his lips, "...maybe..." Rose beamed like a child asking for a second cookie, "...together?"

The Doctor sat up straight while sucking air through his teeth. "See the thing is... of course we're doing it together. Whatever you want, I'll take you anywhere, and I don't care how as long as you and I are together."

"I've been everywhere," her voice was sober now.

"There's a still load to see, I didn't even show you a fraction of the universe."

"OK, yeah, but I've been everywhere." She needed to confess.

"How do you mean?"

"Doctor, these last few years I've been looking for you, I searched everywhere."

He took her hand. "Tell me about it. I want to know everything."

"I never stopped thinking about you." Her smile turned bitter sweet, lost in remembrance. "I worked in a shop for a while. I hated it. Mum was sure I was depressed. When my little brother was born Dad decided to stay home full time. Why not, right? He had enough to retire early." She nodded her head to the house. "But a couple of months later Torchwood was in our house. Mum had a knock out drag down battle of words. Mum and Dad began fighting then. At the time I didn't know or care why. I'd been in a bit of a fog in those days, numb, y'know?" Rose did not address The Doctor's face. She stared straight through. He felt cold. "I'd been workin' one day at the shop, and this sorta army convoy in the street, right out front, broke down. I was drawn to it. I walked through the streets between the cars. Coppers were everywhere pushin' people outta the way. Not me though, for some reason they walked right by. That's when I saw it. In one of the jeeps I saw the TARDIS. For the first time in I dunno how long I began to feel again. I still had the key." Rose fished around her pocket. "I never go anywhere without it." She produced a key on a chain. The Doctor beamed so proud. "I hid in the TARDIS. I dunno know why really. It was just better there." He understood the feeling. "I still don't know how long I was in there for, a few hours, a few days, maybe a week. When I did come out finally there was Dad. I thought he was crossed, but he wasn't. Dad wanted me to see it." Rose's eyes swelled with tears. "It was what they were fighting about. Mum was worried what I'd do. That started my history with Torchwood. It led me to you, to Bad Wolf Bay. That's how I knew I was on the right track."

"That couldn't have been the TARDIS."

"It was." Her voice cracked.

"Where was I?"

"I can't." Rose covered her mouth and looked away. A chill went down The Doctor's back.

He held her hand. "Look it worked out for the better. You and me, it'll be just like old times."

"Yeah," she sniffed, "I don't think so."

The Doctor looked her hard in the face. He wanted to know her meaning. "Rose..." He cooed.

"I'll take you tomorrow." Her lip quivered.

The Doctor's eyes fixed on the sky. If the stars were measured in years they were a lifetime away. He looked through them, past them, as far as he could strain. There was still no Gallifrey. His hand lay flat on his chest. _One_. Rose had fallen asleep ages ago. She crumpled into a ball and nestled up close for warmth. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He held her close. This is supposed to be his life of late night chance meetings, sharing cab rides and beach bumming. This was a life with Rose, but he was still stuck in the stars. These last few hours alone were filled with self discovery and coming to terms. _One._ It was a terrible mix. As a Time Lord he never slept much, there was no need. The human Doctor was tired now, but sleep would not find him, and so his mind was set adrift. O_ne is so empty._ That is how his chest and his head felt. _Less then a day ago I could see the past, the future, and all the possible futures. I could see it. _It was gone now. He was forced to use his memories now, which was slightly infuriating. His memories were nowhere as clear as looking straight into time. There was an odd side effect. It never occurred to him, but with so much in his head before, his mind actually worked faster than a human in order for a single thought to form at the same rate. With the time vortex gone thoughts came to him quicker than ever. He still sighed at the one heartbeat. _One._ The time vortex was gone. It was never living in a conventional sense, but beings affected it every moment. All those creatures, thousands of millions of trillions and beyond, all of whose faces The Doctor could see were gone. Out in the universe they still existed, but not with him, not any more. They all turned their back on him. He was one little man sucked back into his own head in a tiny world in a region of space hardly anyone had ever heard of. The Doctor rubbed a restless hand across a weary face. _One._ He stroked Rose's soft blond hair. T_hey can keep their rubbish lives._

There was one being that he could not forget. He did not bother. That man was the original Doctor. He was the reason this Doctor lived and breathed. There was a Meta-Crisis when all the planets were stolen. The result was a second Doctor. They were linked, or at least they were up until the TARDIS' departure. The original took the TARDIS, his only link to Gallifrey. Its lack of presents left a void. The Doctors' connection was severed because trans-dimensional psychic links were much too draining both psychically and mentally. The original desperately wished to live through the Meta-Crisis Doctor. He wanted Rose all to himself everyday. Y_ou stranded us here together._ He thought angrily. The Doctor knew no one was listening any longer. Now he was truly his own man. He preferred a severed link, but still thought to him. _If you thought I was going to share my life after abandoning us here..._" He swelled with rage at the mere thought.

A quick flicker of light jetted across the sky, so abrupt The Doctor almost stood. He restrained in order to preserve Rose. A_ shooting star_, he thought _meteors and space debris burning up in the atmosphere as they fall to earth. People believe they grant wishes._ It was silly. He knew there were no magical properties, but still, he could hardly resist a half hearted prayer. _Star I want for Rose and me to have one more adventure, just one last time._ He inhaled solemnly, and then snickered at his own foolishness.


	4. Rift

_The Doctor is faced to deal with the consequences of leaving behind Rose._ _She's just human right? How bad can it be? Who hurts the most? _

**Chapter Four: Rift**

The sun illuminated warm across the mid morning sky. Today was bluer than the deepest sea. No clouds were in sight. Rose and The Doctor walked down a main street through the city. People dotted their path. It could not have mattered less. They only saw each other.

"I could be a doctor. I've had my medical moments." He slid his hands in his pockets. His face resembled a smug child, as he playfully walked into her.

"Right than, what would they call you, Doctor Doctor?" Rose joked.

"How about an EMT? Whizzing to the rescue, saving lives, committing traffic violations, it would be fantastic."

"NASA! I bet the old boys could learn a thing or two from you."

The Doctor's attention was slipping to his surroundings. "I'd be brilliant," his words were distracted.

Rose did not notice as she led him on. "I've got a job." They stopped in front of a tall building.

"In a shop." He recalled. Rose smiled and nodded her head in half disbelief. "Hang on, where are we?" He knew the building. "Torchwood?" There was a tiny note of shock in his voice.

"I couldn't go back to the shop. I told you the first time at Bad Wolf Bay. Weren't you paying attention?" She had been purposely dodgy last night.

"I suppose not close enough."

"So what you think?" She bit her lip, knowing the answer. "Job?"

He took a deep breath through his nose. "Nah, I never touch the stuff." His eyes crawled up the height of the building. He caught the end of a quick light fading out over the roof. The Doctor flicked on his tortoise shell glasses.

"Oi, where'd you get those?"

"These? What, I've more then one pair."

Rose continued her mock disappointment by folding her arms and tisking. "Right, in we go."

Walking through Torchwood's foyer was grand. The room was completely stone and marbled with ceilings that stretched two stories high. The only adornment in the massive hall was a horse shoe shaped desk, made out of the same material as the rest of the room. The exception was a monstrous brushed bronzed honeycombed "T" logo affixed to the far wall.

The Doctor walked to the center of the room, removed his glasses and looking up. He circled his spot. "This is a large room. It needs a little shop."

"Let's not make a spectacle. I just want to pop in and out." Rose was a different person in Torchwood. She recognized it and hoped it would not shine through. She knew how The Doctor felt about Torchwood and other secret self righteous government organizations. Most importantly Rose had a plan. It had been bubbling inside her only since this morning. Today she was going to betray all the people who helped her and steel back the TARDIS. The TARDIS had been cataloged in Torchwood's inventory. It was stored in the basement with other galactic garbage. It was also where her office was. She took that office to be near it.

"Welcome back Ms. Tyler." The receptionist, a young man in his twenties dressed in a tailored suit and blue tooth ear piece walked around the desk to greet them.

"Thank you, Ronald" Rose flashed an annoyed smile.

"I see the mission was a success." Ronald motioned towards The Doctor, whose eyes fell from the ceiling into the conversation.

"Sorry?" The Doctor asked.

"The sun's still shinning isn't it?" She tried wrapping up the conversation.

"Right, should I notify the rest?" Ronald was conflicted by her tone.

"That won't be necessary, Ronald, we're just picking up a few things." Rose pushed past him to the lift. The Doctor followed.

"Welcome back anyhow Ms. Tyler," he called. Rose produced a key card from her pocket and swiped it to call the lift.

"Fantastic," The Doctor pointed up." I want to check..."

She cut him off. "I have to show you the TARDIS first."

"It can't be the TARDIS," he assured her. "I wouldn't just leave it anywhere, especially not for Torchwood." Rose bit her lip. The Doctor smirked. "Ms. Tyler?" He asked. His eye arched intrigued.

"Yeah, y'know, Dad ..." she explained apologetically. "And when you're one of the founding reasons for their being, you gain a little clout." She smiled.

"Queen Victoria?"

"Queen Victoria." She shook her head nostalgically. The doors opened. Inside was an older man, Dr. Tolbit, in a lab coat holding a clipboard. His gaze remained with his papers as Rose and The Doctor stepped in. Rose pressed a button.

"Ms. Tyler, you never logged out that blaster..." His eyes shifted to The Doctor, "... I suppose I shan't ever see it again, now will I?"

"I'm sorry, I'm The Doctor." His voice held an indignant edge.

"I should hope so," Tolbit said before turning his attention back to his papers.

A small crowd of about fifteen people consisting of Unit and Torchwood mixed began applauding the moment Rose and The Doctor stepped out.

"Is this how they'll great us every time?" The Doctor asked with a smile.

A woman from Torchwood approached. "Marcy, I told Ronald not to say we were here," Rose whispered.  
"You know Ronald, he's such a gossip. Besides, you deserve accolades." Marcy extended her hand. "And you, Doctor, on behalf of everyone on planet Earth, thank you for all your sacrifices."

He did not accept her hand. "I'm sorry, what?" His brow scrunched together.

"They know about that whole thing with the Daleks," Rose said quietly.

"We had been working on project Bad Wolf for years. We knew the Darkness was coming, and couldn't have fought it without the pair of you." The picture began to take root in his mind. This was Rose's army. This whole while The Doctor imagined Rose was a lone wolf like himself. She turned to Torchwood. She asked them for help. It was a bit disorientating. He looked at Rose. He looked at her in the way she feared he would.

She avoided his gaze. Rose felt claustrophobic. "Thank you, but we have to keep moving." She led The Doctor away.

The hall was buzzing with snippets of conversations. "Huon... Ship in the sky... in the rift... grey skin... Doctor...." They sought refuge in Rose's office. The lights came up automatically. Rose shut the door.

"So you're with Torchwood, I mean really with Torchwood, and did I see Unit there too?"

"We've already discussed this, and it's not like that. I needed them to get to you. That's all. I'm done. As for now, we have to move quickly. I didn't mean for all that attention back there. I just wanted to grabs a few things." She pointed. "Grab that?"

The Doctor picked up the Manila envelope from her desk. "What's this?"

"For you."

He opened it. There was a small blank paper inside. His face lit up extremely pleased. "Psychic paper? Where'd you get that?"

"The source," she said. "When I show you the TARDIS... that is to say…" her voice strained. She tried to find her words. "Did you intend to stay on Earth?"

"Rose, it can't be the TARDIS."

"Because they don't help people here, it's a different since dad left. They only help themselves." She took a necklace from the desk draw.

"It can't be the TARDIS," he repeated.

"But I've been inside."

"It can't."

"Why not!?" She truly did not understand. Rose had been in the TARDIS. She was drawn to it. Everything about it was the same. How could he sit back and judge without having seen it himself. On the other hand, The Doctor was so sure. She second guessed herself.

"If the TARDIS were anywhere, and I mean anywhere, I would be able to sense it. Ever since it went back to the other universe I have felt empty."

Rose sat hopelessly in her chair. _It was a trick. All of it was a trick. This is Torchwood messin' with my mind like it does to everyone else. I never understood how they made their machine work. I thought it was about the TARDS. I was just their guinea pig._ "I wanted to go before anyone noticed." She felt completely flattened. "I hadn't even figured out everything yet. I wasn't sure if you could even make the TARDIS run anymore. I hadn't even considered your feelings in all this. I just wanted it to be like old times." She played with the necklace absentmindedly. "I went to a planet with a brilliant purple sun half the size of the sky. There were these sorta long dolphin things swimming through the sunset."

"Chrissix," The Doctor said. "Chrissix has Dolphin eels."

"I went to Midnight."

"I was there recently."

"I landed on the face of the planet," her voice shook. "I didn't know it was unsafe."

"You would have incinerated."

"I thought the TARDIS protected me."

"It couldn't..."

"I was in the hospital for months with radiation burns. They said I'd never see again. I was out there for less than a minute." The Doctor imagined what Rose was remembering; months in writhing agony, confined to a bed. Welts formed and pustulated over her whole body. At night she cried for him.

"I'm sorry, I am so sorry." He hugged her.

"Yeah well, you here now makes everything worth while." Her smile was weak. That feeling of shame flooded him again. There were a million ways The Doctor could have recovered Rose from this universe. The only thing that stood between him and her were his code of ethics.

He cupped Rose's face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "It'll never be you again." He promised. "I will find you no matter what."

"You won't have to, forever, remember?" They both smiled.

"And what's that?" The Doctor rested his chin in his palm and elbow on her desk, nose to necklace.

"Sea glass." She showed him the pink pendant on the silver chain, "It's a memento from my first failed attempt. A pretty thing from a disaster, it gave me hope." He turned it over several times in his hand.

"This is from Elsmere." He declared.

"I know."

"I never took you to any of those places."

"I know."

He handed her the necklace while deliberating. _She couldn't know of those places._"Show me the TARDIS."

The corridor past Rose's office was lined with many pieces of space relics and galactic junk, including various ships.

The Doctor stopped at one shiny gold one in particular. He sized it up. "How'd that get here?" It was the void ship.

"No one really knows. For some reason it was sucked straight through the rift to this side." The Doctor slid on a pair of 3-D glasses. "I suppose you had two sets of those than as well?" Rose asked.

"Nah, these I pinched." He confessed. "He got the TARDIS, fair's fair." Green gunk swished around the ship. He looked at Rose then his own hands. They were still steeped with parallel world muck. "No Daleks or Cyberman?"

"None so far, come on," Rose led The Doctor away from the void ship. They were approaching a door at the end of the hall. "Now I want you to brace yourself, it's not in the condition you would have left it." Beyond the door was a room as large as an aircraft hanger. Lights came on in rows at a time. The room was littered with computers and space-aged consoles. Some were hooked up to a ring of mirrors. Every wire in the room was funneled together in a bundle that led into the slightly ajar blue box.

The Doctor's face lit up extremely pleased. "It is! I didn't think it was. I mean I REALLY didn't, but..." he took off running.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled out. He disappeared into the ship. She was hesitant to follow, but crossed the room anyhow. Rose paused at the mirrors. Her eyes traced the wires on the floor. They looked like a dead tongue hanging out of the TARDIS. She took a breath before entering.

The Doctor clung to the banister to keep his balance. His expression had completely shattered. "What?" He finally uttered. The TARDIS had been completely gutted. Wires and scrap cables stuck out everywhere. The console had been dissected. Even the heart of the TARDIS had been pried open and wholly dismembered. "WHAT?!" His face completely coiled in horror.

"Doctor?" Rose called softly.

"They killed it." This was his friend of nine hundred years. "Why?" The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, messing it to bits. "They murdered it." He looked at Rose with such passionate anger. She had seen the look before, but not in a very long time. Not since before the first time The Doctor regenerated, so many Christmases ago. "It was the last of its kind! How could they! Stupid, thick, apes destroy everything! If they don't understand it they kill it. And you let them right in! I should never have given you..."

"I would never!" Rose startled herself. "I would never," she calmed. "They knew I could get in, but I would not let them in."

"Then how?" He asked composing himself.

"The TARDIS did."

"It wouldn't."

"It saw the Darkness. It showed me the Darkness. It showed everyone the Darkness. The situation was bigger than you or me or the TARDIS. It knew that." Rose defended herself.

"Where was I? If the TARDIS was here I should have been too."

"You were gone." She took a deep breath. She didn't to say. Her face turned pink. "It was Christmas. There was a web in the sky. You never came out."

"Donna saved me," he recalled quietly.

Pins filed the air, pricking her lungs as she breathed. "You died. You died and you died in every world you died." Her voice cracked. "And sometimes I was there and sometimes there was another companion. But I saw you die so many times. And nobody could save you. I tired to. I couldn't." She broke into full sobs, her voice cracked into a million pieces "You never regenerated." She hugged herself, trying to stifle her emotional. He wanted to be sympathetic. He wanted to hug her, but he was struck by his own frailty. The Doctor was not just the last Time Lord. He had been the only version of himself left. The Doctor's face dropped at that revelation. "Donna only ever existed in that one universe. That's how I knew she was special, she saved your life." She took a few breaths to calm herself down. "I couldn't fly the TARDIS, I didn't know how. I came to work one day and it was ripped up." She stepped back. "They made their own machine and powered it with the TARDIS. On my last trip the heart went out."

"Why not use those button things?" He did not really care about the answer, his mind was still feebly wrapping around his surroundings.

"The universe was weak enough as it was from the Daleks. I had to establish a link to that world first. We couldn't just blast holes. You told me the buttons could destroy the universe." The Doctor looked around. Fighting was vain. He was sorry for yelling at Rose too. She touched the wall. "I suppose you can't fix it than?"

"Fix it?" He could not believe the words that fell from her mouth. "I can make it look pretty, but it'll never run again."

"I though we could charge it up under the rift again."

"It's not empty, it's dead." The Doctor shuffled to the only thing intact, his chair. He touched it and bowed his head. Rose quietly backed out of the room to the sanctuary of her office.


	5. Three Ships

_The TARDIS is left in shambles. Rose deals with the impending rift set between her and The Doctor, as a new woman steps into the scene. Is The Doctor as alone as he thinks? _

**Chapter 5: Three Ships**

The Doctor picked at a jumble of wires. _It would be a snap to spruce up._ He looked at the cavern where once Rose had consumed the time vortex, _maybe a flower box._ His head hit the neck if his chair hard in uninspired misery. The Doctor closed his eyes tight. _What's the point? __He answered himself out loud._ "The point is in 900 years I've had so many companions, but the TARDIS was my only constant one. It deserves better." His words echoed quietly in the dead hull. The Doctor opened his eyes. They were deep and soulful. If it were any other day before yesterday he would be neck deep in rolled sleeves and elbow grease. Now rather he was enveloped in a chosen procrastination. A plan had already been hatched, but his funk prohibited its execution.

An hour passed by, almost two. Rose sat lazy in a heap in her chair. Her eyes were glued to her closed office door. She had a chat with her mother, Jackie. As usual she offered no sympathy, only the brand of motherly wisdom that infuriates. The last part of the conversation still ran through her head.

"I think you're seeing the man you want him to be and not the man he is and that's not fair to him," Jackie stated.

"How do you mean?" Rose asked slowly.

"He's just a clone."

Rose was absolutely flabbergasted. "Don't you dare. He's more then that. He's The Doctor. And listen to you throwin' around clone like it's just as ordinary. That man is ever bit as brilliant as The Doctor you knew."

"I just don't want your heart broken."

There came a soft wrap to her door. Rose sat forward."Yeah?" Her voice was lazy and slow.

Rose protested taking on any missions, but Marcy wanted her on the roof with nary an explanation. "He's your problem," She warned. The Doctor was already up there. He was laying on his back, arms folded behind his head and ankles crossed. The 3-D glasses were back.

"It's like a giant green scar." He took off the glasses and extended them to Rose.

"Just how did you get up here?" Marcy asked.

"Psychic paper. Thank you Rose."

"Right," said Rose glad to see The Doctor in better spirits. She lied on the ground their ears lined up. "I can see it." She pointed up, wearing the 3-D glasses. Marcy looked.

"Shhh," The Doctor's finger went to his lips, "this is my favorite part." Nothing happened.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Shoush." A bright light exploded in the air and a ship from the light. It flew about fifty yards across the sky before disappearing into the same flash.

"What was that?" Rose sat up, removing the glasses.

"We believe it's a threat attempting to breach the rift," Marcy explained.

The Doctor stood, tucking the glasses in his inner breast pocket. "Sorry, wrong." The Doctor smiled.

"How can you be sure?" Marcy asked folded her arms in disbelief.

"Wait and see, it's been picking up speed, each time a bit quicker I'm not sure if it'll eventually crash into itself or if it'll just pass through itself." The ship appeared and disappeared again. "That ship is trapped."

"We got to get it out than." Rose exclaimed.

"Absolutely not," Marcy ordered. The Doctor brushed past Marcy on high speed.

Rose followed shrugging as she passed by. "Sorry, you don't know him."

The two were back in Rose's corridor. The Doctor stood tall against the void ship. It was just a thing now. It did not give off a feeling of ill will, as before. He reached inside his jacket.  
"Oh no no no no." The Doctor realized it was empty. "I took the 3-D specks and left the screwdriver. I loved that screwdriver. Well now on second thought, that trade for the TARDIS seems a wee bit lopsided." He flicked on his black rimmed glasses and placed his ear against the smooth gold sphere. "Come one," his head darted from area to area, "Speak to me." He knocked the sweet spot and a by-folding door opened.

"Snug in there, yeah?" Rose asked.

"Don't forget, they love that Time Lord science." He smirked

She looked in. "God, this is huge. I mean the TARDIS is small to large, but this is bitty to enormous." Rose stepped in without being prompted.

The Doctor smiled at her enthusiasm. _Welcome back Shake and Shimmer_, he thought stepping into the ship himself. The inside was like a two way mirror. The outside of the ship was shiny gold and smooth. The inside walls were all windows. The ship was vast and empty with the exception of a control panel. Rose was looking out over the console to watch the passersby from the hall. The Doctor stood next to her

.  
"So how do we make it work?" She asked.

"I'm not sure really. I figured I'd fly it like the TARDIS, just flip some switches until we get somewhere."

"That's not how you fly the TARDIS." She accused. The Doctor's eye brows shot up to compliment his devilish smile. "Doctor?" The Doctor pulled a lever. The ship rumbled alive. Lights flickered while Torchwood faded away to a purple, red, and blue vortex of emptiness.  
"Rose Tyler, welcome to the void," he said returning his glasses to his pocket. She pressed her hand against the window. She was mesmerized. "Don't stare too long, there are only three outcomes, and I'd hate you to hear drums."

"You think the Gelth are in here?" Rose asked. She shrieked and stumbled back as a Dalek slammed up against the ship's wall.  
"Could be." The Doctor replied. He stood next to the window. "Look at that." He pointed to the Dalek. "Right where you belong," he spoke as though talking to a kitten. Rose stayed back. "It's OK. It'll take'em hours to process what he's seein'."

"How's that?"

"That space between space is a lot like gelatin, try walking in it, it slows you down considerably."

"So, they're like little fruit bits?"

"Yeah," The Doctor smiled, "but not us, this ship is special." He flipped a few more switches. The void ship was off. "Look there, our mystery ship." Up ahead was the ship they came for. It traced a light spot in the void, the rift.

"What now?" Rose asked.

"Oh the possibilities." The Doctor smirked. He turned a knob and stood triumphantly. The whole ship powered down. The Doctor released his grin.

"Oi, was that the power switch?"

"No," The Doctor reversed the knob. The lights flared back up. He attempted the knob again with the same results and then switched it back again. "That's not good."

"Light switch rave?"

"That was supposed to be the tractor field, that." He typed a few buttons on the main console. "Here's the problem."

Rose looked at the console expecting to understand it."Yeah?"

The Doctor pointed to something that looked like a green and red bar graph. "We don't have much power, not much power at all."

"So what we do now?"

"Ramming speed!" He slammed down a lever. The ship picked up speed.

"We're gonna crash." Rose latched onto anything she could as they approached.

"I know." There was a hard jerk when they hit the other ship .The impact was so hard they broke straight through the rift. "Brace yourself." The void ship caught on the drag of the first craft. Both hit the corner of Torchwood before careening to the Earth below. They hit the road hard. Rose and The Doctor were flung to the floor.

She laughed as the adrenaline drained from her body. "Ow." She sat up.

"A bit too hasty, you think?" The Doctor stood as though nothing happened.

"You think?" Rose giggled incredulous. "You think he's OK?" She referred to the other ship, pressing a tender spot in her back. The Doctor abandoned Rose to the outside. She shakily shuffled out the door. He stood tall against the liberated ship. They waited a moment. "So how do you know it's not some space pirate that deserved to be there?"

"Call it a hunch."

"A hunch, really? I won't be able to sit for a month." They waited a bit longer.

"I think I might fix up the TARDIS anyhow." He revealed out of the blue.

"But you said it was dead."

"Yeah well," he tugged his ear, "I can make it look pretty, for when we do get a house. It would look fantastic in the garden." There was still no activity from the ship.

"Maybe he's hurt." Rose offered. The Doctor opened the other ship. He stopped cold. His face hardened before disappearing from her view.

_Cruel_, he thought. A young woman lied twisted against the floor. He knelt down besides her, checking for a pulse. He brushed her hair away.

Rose caught up. "Is she..." she was caught off guard by his extreme candor. "D'you know her?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. The woman groaned. His face lit up. "There you go," he said amazed and relieved. He helped her sit up.

"Wha...?" She rubbed her head groggily.

"Are you hurt?" The Doctor asked. She looked him in the face. It snapped her out of her fog. Her smile stretch ear to ear. She reeled him in closer for a hug. The Doctor wore a mix of relief and pure joy. He hugged her with no plans of ever letting go

"Brilliant, brilliant little girl." The Doctor whispered. Rose was becoming a bit jealous.

"Dad." The girl said.

"Dad?" Rose repeated completely astonished.

"Sorry, Rose, Jenny, Jenny, Rose. How are you here?"

"I was looking for you..." Jenny started.

"But your daughter?" Rose was shocked.

"I told you I'd been a father before," The Doctor quipped.

"And this ghosty thing caught me..." Jenny continued.

"Of course I wasn't referring to her," he added, scratching his neck.

"How do you mean than?" Rose asked.

"Well," he rubbed his ear, "she's more like a clone."

"It told me I had committed treason, and I was to be imprisoned."

"Clone? Is that just the way you populate?"

"No," his face scrunched up, "I suppose that just happens a lot, well, to me... apparently. Now shoush. Treason? Did it say anything else?"

"No, well, something about a shadow something." She added.

"Proclamation." The Doctor continued. "What did this ghosty thing look like?"

"Tall, tapered, translucent, gray skin with a cloak."

"Scythe?"

"Yes!"

"Eyes?"

"No."

"Khankiurdon!" He marveled. "That's a bit of an honor, that. You must have done something really flashy."

"But treason?" Jenny asked. "I didn't. I'd never."

"What's Khankiurdon?" Rose asked.

"It's from the Reaper Class. A hunter, scratch that, THE hunter. The best hunter. It is so focused it has no life outside of the hunt. It doesn't think much, and loves orders. Used to be a proud bounty hunter for the Elder Gods, but when they dried up, Kiurdon fell into being a slave race for the Shadow Proclamation. No one's seen one in hundreds of years." The Doctor explained.

"Like the Grim Reaper?" Rose pressed.

"Yeah, well, no, well, they're both from the Reaper Class, but the Grim Reaper is the harbinger of death. Khankiurdon is the harbinger of fugitives. There are so many harbingers, of light, of new cultures, of rips in time, of ... other harbingery things." His eyes had stars. "Khankiurdon is blind but its sense of empathic smell is so well developed it can hunt prey without a name. They don't even need a description... Hang on, treason?"

"Yeah, abandonment at time of war. I didn't even know I'd been drafted."

"From the Shadow Proclamation?" He thought, "Jenny, it was looking for me."

"Treason?" Rose exclaimed.

"Yes, well they suffered from some grand delusion that I'd lead them into battle or something." He wrote of the whole thing fluttering his hand away. "The important thing is, Jenny, the last time I saw you... that is to say, you were dead."

"I'm not sure what really happened. I remember wakin' up really cold. I mean past freezing."

"You clever little thing," he beamed. "All by yourself with no one to tell you."

"What?" Rose asked.

"She slowed down her hearts until her body could repair itself."

"Another Time Lord death cheat?"

"That's how you get as old as I do."

Rose began giggling.

"What's so funny?"

"So if the pair 'a you are cloned from the same source, isn't she your sister than?"

"No, I'm a Meta-Crisis not a clone," he said pointing straight at her nose, "and THAT would make Donna my mother and that is not a path I'd like to tread. I had a fantastic mum thank you."

"Is Donna here?" Jenny asked.

"Donna's home." The Doctor said solemnly. Jenny stood suddenly and started scraping about her ship. "What're you looking for?"

"I've been looking for you for a long time." Jenny said. "I'd been exploring."

"A girl after my own hearts."

"I found something of yours."

"Mine?"

"It was beat up pretty bad, but I fixed it." She found it. "It doesn't work quite right all the time, but, well..." She handed him the twisted up little thing. "It was at a hospital. I was worried about you."

"My screwdriver!" He looked at it. The sonic screwdriver was chewed up pretty bad. It was not pretty to look at, but when he clicked the button it still glowed blue. "Oh c'mon," he said leading them out of the ship. "I have a TARDIS to fix." The Doctor flipped the screwdriver in the air, caught it and tucked it in his pocket.

"What about that?" Jenny pointed to the space wreckage.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Rose said. Torchwood personnel began filing out of the building. The three brushed through the storm of people.


	6. Time Lords

_Rose feels pushed to the side as The Doctor's new shining star steps up._

**Chapter Six: Time Lords **

Jenny was not from Gallifrey. From the moment she had been conceived from a stolen skin sample there was no doubt in her mind what she was. She was a soldier. She fought in a war that her people had been waging for generations. Every one was breed for that soul intent. It took The Doctor no time flat to shake her foundation. He was a Time Lord and she was from him. It was a better life, but The Doctor told Jenny she could only ever be a soldier. He said she was an echo and that she could never be like him. Jenny was a painful reminder to The Doctor that he was alone. She took a bullet for him and then he was truly sad. He held her tight and mourned her body. Jenny wanted to declare her soul. She wanted The Doctor to know all the good she could do without violence or weapons. She had nothing to prove to The Doctor now. They hugged and he called her daughter. She could be from Gallifrey.

Ever since Jenny found that sonic screw driver and repaired it she knew it was time to find The Doctor again. It was what drew her to the Medusa Cascade in the first place. On her way she witnessed a strange thing, a little blue box towing a planet. She could have kicked herself for not recognizing the TARDIS straight away. Oh well, she had fun in the cascade. It was very beautiful. After the fact, Jenny was not sure where to head. She had a strong urge to return to Earth even though that was her starting point.

In these few days The Doctor was attempting to bring Jenny up to par. He was passing every grain of knowledge he could to her. She was incredibly brilliant and caught onto concepts very quickly. Rose understood The Doctor's motives. She did not know how long ago the Time War was, but knew it had been a long time since The Doctor felt a kinship. A twinge of jealousy flared anyhow. The Doctor had opened up to Jenny unlike he had ever to Rose. He gushed about his home planet Gallifrey and science and Quantum Mechanics. For the first time The Doctor talked and there was some personal substance. So much of it went straight over Rose's head. Jenny was incredibly adaptive. 'It's important for you to know we are the last of the oldest race.' He made it sound so grand. They were a Time Lord and a Time Lady against the universe, and here was Rose Tyler, toolbox. _I wonder if this is how Mickey felt._

"I'm getting lunch," Rose announced standing suddenly, putting down a wrench.

The Doctor peered through the glossed glass of the TARDIS' engine that stood between him and her. It distorted her look. "Bring back some chips." He wore a ridiculous head piece with different lenses stacked up against each other for different focuses.

Rose smirked. _He's so daft and he doesn't even know it._

"I'm coming too," Jenny dusted off her hands.

"Are you sure?" The Doctor called looking up.  
"Yeah, I've been cooped in a ship long enough. I've only been to Earth once before and I didn't get to look around much then. I want to explore, c'mon Rose show me around." Jenny grinned.


	7. Candid Moments

_Is being around the TARDIS so often having an effect on Jenny?__ Rose contemplates her place in life with The Doctor AND Jenny. Marcy makes her agenda very clear. A visitor comes to Torchwood.  
_

Chapter Seven: Candid Moments

Ronald's wiggly little pinky finger burrowed deeply through the inner canal in search of some sticky gold. It surfaced so quickly that the air in his ear popped as he composed himself. He could have sworn he heard the front door open. When Ronald concluded he was indeed alone he wiped the wax on the underside of his desk, and closed out his Internet browser that promised him kinky peeps at the click of his mouse.

The succulent scent of ripe strawberries tickled at Ronald's nose. An air vent was stuck halfway up the far wall. The boys in the lab were always working on one thing or another which invariably seemed to filter on down to him. He often speculated that they maybe were experimenting on him without his knowledge, and watched his reactions through the security system. _Just wait until a hole opens in my head, I'll sue you then. _Ronald went on to wonder how one went about suing secret government organizations. His thoughts went on hold as he hit the floor. Ronald's whole body twitched. His eyes were open and simulated REM. Ronald was catatonic. Khankiurdon had passed through his body, stopping all his organs for a fraction of a second. The traveler's musk was especially potent here.

The Doctor leaned over picking through a pile of burnt out circuit boards. He examined each one before casting them aside. Two looked promising. They seemed exactly alike. The Doctor held one in each hand. The second one was defective. He sniffed decisively, while pitching it one over his shoulder. When he aligned the panel, something caught his attention. It twinkled, reflectively in his eye. A new hope simmered within. The Doctor smiled brilliantly with his secret and he placed the glittery trinket in his pocket.

Marcy invited herself into the TARDIS and the spell was broken. She cleared her throat waiting to be acknowledged, but The Doctor ignored her.

"Doctor, I'd like to speak to you candidly."

"I don't suppose you work with a man named Jack?"

"I can't say that I do."

"I can't imagine candid means forthcoming, than" The Doctor was mildly annoyed by the intrusion.

"Quite the contrary." Marcy's eyes narrowed indignant. She stepped up to the engine, nonchalantly stroking the smooth cylinder. "The last Time Lord in all of creation. The only man of his kind in all of the infinite lonely space, how exciting it must be." She glanced at him. The Doctor rubbed his eyes. "I'd like to examine you."

"Not a big fan of how you examine." He snapped the circuit board into place. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Do you understand the conditions under which Ms. Tyler was to work with us?" Marcy folded her arms. "It has nothing to with her family's money or power or connections..."

"It was about me."

"We had overlapping interests."

"Don't think for a moment she hasn't decided your angle."

"That is of no consequence. Project Bad Wolf was just a convenient coincidence. Torchwood has a very large file on you, Doctor. All the things you have done both noble and terrifying. As I'm sure you have been able to deduce we're not so interested in the anthropology of a race so much as what it can offer us in technological advances. This TARDIS, think of the practical applications for example."

"Sorry, not quite interested I'm afraid."

"You were once an agent of UNIT. We could arrange a similar agreement."

"Obviously you don't understand the nature of that agreement. Look around, I'm about done here. Once the TARDIS is repaired we'll be on our way."

"You have so much to share, but I was warned of your stubbornness. My next point is the matter of the girl from the void."

"Pass me that." The Doctor pointed to a coil of solder.

Marcy obliged bitterly. "There are rules and there are consequences and if that girl proves to be a threat..."

"She's not a threat." He blew some dust from the panel.

"_If_, that girl proves to be a threat, I will see to it personally that your brain gets picked with a scalpel."

"I'm sorry am I a prisoner?" The Doctor asked without looking up from his soldering. "Because your establishment is so cheery all the time, I can't rightly tell."

"Of course not, but you do not have free range of this facility. Y'know we could lawfully charge you with hi-jacking."

"I've got you on murder." He motioned to the engine of the TARDIS.

"It's a machine."

"It was alive." The Doctor glared at her. "As far as I'm concerned you're the only threat here."

Marcy's smile failed. "Don't try me Doctor. I've my eyes on you. Give me one reason to suspect you." She backed out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor had an interesting relationship with the cadaverous TARDIS. He talked to it and stroked it and was rather wound up in his own little world. Rose accepted it as one of his quirks. Jenny, on the other hand, kept asking if The Doctor was alright. The two swapped stories and laughs like old mates. Jenny had loads of questions about The Doctor. Rose filled her in up until now. The girls chattered away whilst walking the main drag, passing countless shops.

"So why does he bother?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know." Rose's voice was a mix of frustrated joy. "He takes on the most hopeless causes without ever being asked, and by some manic miracle twists it into the right thing. Everything always works out for him." She paused a moment. "I know its dead, but it's gone out before." She was referring to the TARDIS. "I dunno. I want to believe it'll work out."

"How'd he fix it last time?"

"He sorta blew on this glowy bit. He gave up ten years of his life." She stopped cold in her tracks. "Oh God, what if he does it again? He's been actin' real impulsive lately. Ten years is a bit more now."

"He really loves the TARDIS." They stopped in front of a dress shop.

"It's been his best mate." Rose concurred.

"How much time would you give for your best mate?" Jenny asked. There was a wedding dress in the window.

"I'd give my life." Rose caught her overlaying reflection out of the corner of her eye. "I dunno." _T__hings always work out for him._ Rose was a stir of conflicting emotions. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with The Doctor in a very conventional sense. She just knew they were soul mates. It clashed with her desperate desire to continue adventuring with The Doctor. She also wanted the old formula again; a world in peril receives two strangers to save the day and fade out without accepting thanks. It was all very romantic to her.

A powerful image popped into Jenny's mind. It was accompanied with a sharp ring in her ears. It drew her attention to Rose's gaze. She could see the dress exactly as Rose saw it as if she was Rose herself. She shook her head a bit, pulling herself back.

"We should be gettin' back." Rose sighed.

The girls had returned from their lunch break. Rose, unjustly embarrassed sought refuge in her office, until her flush passed. Jenny went straight to check on The Doctor. He had been working nonstop. She was a little concerned for him. He was right where they left him.

"We're back." Jenny beamed. She handed him a sack. The Doctor chomped into a fresh chip. His smile approved. "What do you think of Rose?" She asked with no pretense.

"I think the world of her." The Doctor smiled reflectively. "She fearless, selfless, ready for any fight. She's brilliant and generally marvelous. She knows it."

"Does she?"

"I've told her so. Anyhow, look what's come of her effort, the three of us here," he pointed with the screwdriver. "And we've the TARDIS."

Another sharp image popped into Jenny's head, this time of the TARDIS in space. Just as quickly it dissolved when she looked back towards The Doctor. She shook the ringing in her ears away to continue. "But what do you want the world or the stars? From the moment you knew the TARDIS was here you completely gave up, didn't you?" Jenny stole a chip from the bag.

"Where's this coming from?"

"I don't think you can see Rose through the TARDIS."

"What?" The Doctor frowned. Jenny shrugged dismissively. She took another chip as though nothing happened. "Right then." He took a chip too, watching Jenny suspiciously.

"I dunno, maybe it's my headache. They come with headaches.." She smiled.

"Sorry?"

"When I feel particularly brilliant sometimes I get very quick headaches. You don't?" The Doctor held the back of Jenny's head and beamed the sonic screwdriver in her eyes to examine.

"Do you hear voices?"

"No!" She pushed him away.

"I mean it, billions upon billions of voices, distant, loud all talking at once but not together; like the tide ebbing and flowing."

"No," she was less defensive.

"I did, all the time. I thought, maybe for a moment... ah never mind."

"I can't see the things you can, I know that. Sometimes I think I can, though."

_I can't see them any more._ He thought.

"I know, I'm sorry" she apologized. She knew he was still a bit touchy about being human. The color drained from her face a sudden realization. Jenny caught The Doctor's look. "You said that out loud," she pleads.

"I didn't" He was so proud. "You have just a touch of it. You must have been picking up on my own worries about Rose."

She sighed. "Oh good, because I was so sure I was getting them from her." She laughed and popped another chip in her mouth. The color from The Doctor's own face slipped away. "I'm gonna find Rose." Jenny left.


	8. Spare Parts

_Marcy fingers Jenny as Ronald's murderer. The Doctor squares off with _ _Khaniurdon as it tears through the Torchwood building. Rose has a peculiar reaction to her encounter with the Reaper. _

**  
Chapter Eight: Spare Parts**

Rose was just stepping out of her office as Jenny approached her door. She blushed upon their meeting.

"Are you heading back?" Jenny thumbed over her shoulder in the general direction of the TARDIS. "I was just coming to get you." She smiled.

Rose reached in her pocket and played with her necklace with reverie. "Yeah," she smiled biting her lip.

"Ms. Tyler," the tone was wildly condescending. Marcy stomped up the corridor surrounded with two armed guards. The girls were scooped up and marched away.

The Doctor lied flat on his back prodding away at the underside of the steering panel. A blind hand reached up searching for his sonic screwdriver. Some cables swung lose brushing up against his shoulder. A metallic _clang_ resonated through out the TARDIS as something heavy hit the floor. The Doctor's eye shifted to a thoughtful right at the unfamiliar sound. He skidded out from under and sat up. A wrench rested three feet from where he was working. _Finished,_ The Doctor thought. He had originally hoped at the conclusion of this task he would feel much more accomplished, but he didn't. Instead, he was a trifle bit perturbed that so little damage could be the down fall of the TARDIS. Some little part of him foolishly believed once all the little wires were so gingerly tucked back in their place things would be fine. They weren't. He sat alone in the TARDIS with the lights off. He played around with the screwdriver. It was a nice effort on Jenny's behalf, but it was damaged. The Doctor was lucky if the screwdriver worked every other time. He ran his hand through his hair and took a breath. He took another one, then another. Strawberries? He stood casting a less indifferent look at the wrench.

Khankiurdon stood in the doorway of the TARDIS. The Doctor remained still watching it. The Reaper spread its finger and waved its hand delicately. It wafted the air, absorbing particles and scents and essences. It sunk down, disappearing into the floor. The Doctor leaned forward. _I've got to find Jenny._ Kiurdon rose up suddenly stopping short an inch before him. Its hand hovered even closer. The Doctor could make out individual glands pulsating in its palm.

"Are you a shape shifter?" It hissed. The Doctor wasn't sure if Khankiurdon was addressing him. It put his ear up against his chest. The sensation that followed was most uncomfortable. The Doctor's heart lurched forward as if drawn to the ear. He braced himself against the chair. He felt as thought he was going to fall into Kiurdon. "Are you?"

The Doctor's words caught up with his racing heart rendering him unable to respond. The Reaper removed his ear and moved a hand over the Time Lord's forehead. It triggered panic involuntarily. He couldn't breath. He was asphyxiating. His back arched and arms splayed. Little black lines formed networking through his face and neck as veins were drawn to the surface. He was perfectly still but felt a strong vacuum towards the creature. It spiked through his head stripping biological reads unwillingly from his brain. The Doctor couldn't scream his breath kept sucking clean from his throat. His eyes were left vacant. His ears filled with gurgled whirrs. His orientation blurred to a halt until he landed splat against the floor.

"You are not the traveler. You are human." Kiurdon determined. It wasn't previously sure as The Doctor's psychic signature was remarkably spot-on with his prey.

The Doctor blinked several times for his vision to rebound. He gasped and coughed and wheezed and rasped, but could only squeeze out a few words. "It's me."

Kiurdon scrutinized him face to face. "Human."

The Doctor breathed heavily sucking hungrily at the precious resource. "I am Time Lord," he whispered with conviction. "I am the one who fled the Shadow Proclamation, but the Daleks were defeated. Go on take a good deep whiff. I am who you are looking for." Kiurdon hung an open palm close to The Doctor's face for a second go. His throat felt collapsed and yanked forward and out his ears. It dropped him.

"Time Lords are infinite. You are terminal." It disappeared through the floor. The Doctor lay breathless in the hull of the dead blue box sprawled between burnt out parts that no longer fit the TARDIS.

A body lied on an examination table. His skin had been cut away and chest pinned open. Swarms of doctors and other Torchwood staff hovered over it. Rose looked away. Jenny tried seeing through the crowd.

"What's this about?" Rose demanded. "Was that the front desk clerk?"

"Ask your friend here." Marcy folded her arms across her chest. "Ronald died of unnatural causes." She stared right at Jenny who was still vying for a glimpse.

She glanced back at Marcy realizing the implication. "What? Me? Never!" Jenny protested.

"Rose, you know the procedure. You brought a foreign body to this world and look what's come of it." Marcy motioned back to Ronald. Rose looked for an explanation in Jenny.

"I really didn't do anything." Jenny promised. The lights in the room flickered.

"Don't raise your voice." Marcy roared to the girl. Jenny took a startled step back into the guard.

"Don't talk to her like that," Rose ripped her arm loose from her guard.

"You have no authority here. You never did so just pipe down." Marcy warned. Jenny's guard abruptly collapsed into a twitchy ball.

"I didn't do it. I didn't do it, I swear not me." Jenny's hands went up defensively. Kiurdon pulled itself up through the floor directly behind Marcy. "It's _him_!"

"You are the defector. You will be imprisoned indefinitely." Kiurdon reached for Jenny. Rose's guard began shooting at it.

"Time to run." Rose announced. Jenny bolted to the hallway. Marcy was too startled to move until Rose yanked at her arm. "Go get The Doctor," Rose instructed. Kiurdon came up close behind them. Marcy looked back in time to see the Reaper grasp at Jenny through Rose. Something went wrong though. Instead of jumping straight through Rose it collided with her. They both landed on the floor. Jenny quickly helped Rose up. "Get The Doctor," Rose repeated to Marcy. Kiurdon sunk into the floor. Jenny and Rose ran to the lab.

"Doctor?" Marcy called out. The Doctor was laying on the floor of the TARDIS breathing deeply.

"Rose." He regained his speech but still felt weak.

"No." Marcy answered out. She helped him up.

"Khaniurdon is in the building." He wheezed.

"Old news."

"Don't touch it." The Doctor warned. "It's incredibly bad."

"It bounced off of Rose."

"Really? Why'd it do that?" The Doctor looked Marcy in the face.

"How should I know?"

"Where's Jenny?"


	9. Never Leave Me Alone

_The TARDIS Crew take a proactive step towards ridding themselves of the Reaper once and for all. The Doctor's darker nature is revealed to his daughter as Rose's life hangs in the balance._

**Chapter Nine: Never Leave Me Alone**

The best course of action was to be prepared. The best place to be prepared was Torchwood's lab.

"We need something that can take down a Reaper." Rose said as though ordering up at the bar. Dr. Tolbit was there.

"Ms. Tyler, you never logged out that blaster I don't feel inclined to furnish you with any sort of artillery so you and your friends can play cowboy down the hall." Kiurdon pushed through the door.

"Alright, so can you shoot it then?" Jenny said.

"What is THAT?"

"Sorta a ghosty thing." Rose said."Right, so have you something?"

"Plasma stunner, it might slow it up a bit." Dr. Tolbit picked up a huge blaster from a counter and shot at it. The beam went straight through, but knocked it back a few paces. Kiurdon sunk into the floor.

"We need to evacuate the building." Jenny said.

"There's a fire alarm in the hall." The three went to it. The Doctor and Marcy sprinted down the corridor towards the trio. Dr. Tolbit triggered the alarm and took down the hall."I'm sorry I'm not a field agent." He yelled back at them. Kiurdon rose up again this time adorning its scythe. It sliced through Marcy like paper. She collapsed to the floor.

"What'd you do that for!?" The Doctor yelled at the reaper. "Well, she was a bit irritating..."

"Now's not the time!" Jenny called. Kiurdon reached forward scratching at Rose, but could not land a hit. It hissed angrily and sank back to the floor.

The lab was a mess of half completed projects, alien weapons and notes. The Doctor, Rose and Jenny invited themselves back in to have a look around. The Doctor was rather irked by what he saw. "All this for the defense of the Earth." He stuck his first two fingers in bubbling yellow liquid. His brow arched pleased after tasting them. The flavor agreed with him. "There's enough to take down a small planet."

"I'm done apologizing for them." Rose said defensively

"What's this for?" Jenny poked a red goo blob. It promptly emitted a sonic screech which rendered the three to their knees and hands to their ears. The Doctor jerked the sonic screw driver from his pocket and thumbed the button. Nothing happened. He shook it a few times before trying again. The sound cut out.

"No touching." The Doctor picked up the rather large plasma stunner. "Yeah, that'll do nicely."

"Oi, no guns," Rose said.

"It's not really ..."

Rose cut him off, "I'm supposed to be rehabilitating you, y'know, born in the blood of war or somethin'. Give it here." Rose took the gun and looked down the site before strapping it to her shoulder.

"Look at you all big and bad." The Doctor joked, pushing her shoulder.

"Yeah, well, a couple of years with Torchwood..." she said with apologies."It's just a stunner."

"It's fine."

"It'll help." Rose coaxed.

"It's fine."

"I'm not the one being rehabilitated." She protested

"Nor I," Jenny piped. She disappeared in a flash of light and ripple of space.

"Jenny!" The Doctor cried. She reappeared behind him.

"I'm all in one piece," Jenny said delighted looking down her arms. "My body went woosssh and here I am." Her hands separated quickly before pointing to a blue watch she picked up from a table.

"No teleporting." The Doctor ordered.

"I rather like it." Jenny argued tucking it away in her pocket.

He pointed a lecturing finger at Jenny but stopped as something caught his eye. A large green hoop hung on the wall. "Is that a Kapper Shield?" The Doctor scrutinized it up close. Rose shrugged. "Brilliant!"

Jenny sat quietly on a chair in the middle of the bay that harbored the TARDIS. The whole room was dark except for a single light that shown down on the bright eyed girl. She really wanted to be attentive, but it felt like hours just sitting there. She was bait. Off at a safe distance in the shadows Rose and The Doctor waited along with Jenny, watching, with a loose plan in their back pockets.

"So how we know this is gonna work?" Rose whispered.

"Kapper Shields create a field of energy that protects a being, usually a Kapper, as they are the beings who invented it, inside. The devil's in the details. Unfortunately the shield traps whoever it's protecting. That's fortunate for us."

"No, how do we know this particular shield works?"

"Oh..., now well we don't."

"Right."

"Kiurdon," Jenny called softly, "nasty Reaper thingy. I don't think it's coming," she called blindly to The Doctor. "We might have dodged the bullet straight up."

"That's not how Khankiurdon works." He whispered primarily to himself. The Doctor knew it was just vying its time. A thought came to him. "The Khankiurdon I know was the stuff of nightmares. It was the legend that Mums and Dads told children to keep them in line. This hiding business is pitiful, but perhaps Khankiurdon was frightened away. That's pathetic. It's gone with its wee tail tucked between its legs. How very sad." Khankiurdon immerged from the floor. It scraped at Jenny. In an instant she was replaced by Rose who switched the watch to Jenny. Jenny teleported away. The result made Kiurdon's fingers scrape up against the barrel of Rose's gun.

"Since you want it." She shot the stunner at short range. The beam forced him back a bit. Rose kept shooting and advancing driving the Reaper further. She was forcing it towards the shield.

The Doctor and Jenny were just a bit further back than the hoop. The Doctor gave his screwdriver a test shot to see if it fancied functioning. No dice. He set to shaking it again. Kiurdon noticed Jenny and expanded its shape growing as tall as the room.

Jenny felt a very strong pull towards it. She fought the current. "Help!" She was being sucked away.

The Doctor stopped fumbling with the screwdriver, "Jenny!"

She tripped over the shield, cracking it. Rose stepped up, advancing between the two, and using her body as a buffer. The three hit so hard everything hit the floor, Jenny, Rose, Kiurdon, the gun, the watch; even Rose's necklace was jolted out of her pocket. The Doctor swooped in collecting the items from the floor and teleported Jenny and him out of the room and into the hall. They ran heading for the doorway that lead to the stairs.

"What about Rose?!" Jenny called.

The Doctor stood in the door."It doesn't affected Rose the same way, I don't know why but--" He had one foot out of the door frame. His hand gestured stiffly as an epiphany struck. "Oh! Strawberries!" The Doctor had Rose's necklace. He sniffed it. "Taste this."

"It's been on the floor." Jenny protested.

The Doctor licked it. "Strawberries!"

"Like IT?" She pointed back to the room.

"Rose said she got sea glass from Elsmere. This is Coobrika Diamond."

"What's that?"

"One of the densest carbons in the universe. The seed of Sea Strawberries from the Coobrika Sea. Of Course! It's been imprisoned in Coobrika Diamond." He realized. "Nobody's used diamond cells in hundreds of years."

"Is that why Kiurdon smells like Strawberries?"

"You spend a thousand years in Coobrika Diamond and we'll see how you smell."

"So Rose isn't safe?"

"Rose." The Doctor barreled down the corridor back towards Rose. _If he hurts her...!_ He thought angrily. Khankiurdon phased through the wall blocking The Doctor's path. He stopped cold. "Jenny, get out of here!" He barked. The Reaper sailed closer, aiming to phase through The Doctor. He shook his screwdriver. "Work! Work! Work!" The Doctor could feel a strong psychical draw to the reaper. He held the button down dangling the necklace in front. Kiurdon reached for The Doctor. He closed his eyes and held his breath bracing himself.

"No!" Jenny screamed out. A waif of strawberries hit him. He opened his eyes. Khankiurdon was posed over The Doctor reaching for him, covered in a thick plate of Coobrika Diamond. He exhaled. Relief washed to a new emotion. Something dark brewed deep within.

Jenny released a nervous laugh. "I love that sonic screwdriver!" Jenny stood next to The Doctor, he was visibly agitated. _How dare it even attempt…_ He thought bitterly. "It actually smells quite pleasant," she laughed. He looked gravely at Jenny. The Doctor fired up his screwdriver and struck the Diamond. Kiurdon shattered into dust. It did not even give it a second thought. Jenny stepped back and looked at him appalled.

"Rose." He dashed off. Jenny followed slowly, her eyes focused on the floor. "Rose?" He threw open the door. Darkness succumbed to the single spotlight above. Rose lay on the skirt of the ray, twitching. _Forever._ "Rose!" He sat next to her, holding her head. "I'm sorry." He was frantic. "I'm so sorry, I said I was never gonna leave you ever again and I did and I'm sorry." He hugged her body. "Come back to me, come back please fight." Jenny stood in the entrance watching wide eyed. "It's you and me forever right?" He gulped down two breaths and whispered in her ear. "Don't leave me alone." Her body grasped for wick begging to continue before fading limp and lifeless in his arms. "Rose." Her name caught up in his throat. The Doctor laid her flat on her back. Her eyes were distant, cold, and gone. Her halo of blond tresses tangled wicked around her face. The Doctor's lip quivered. His finger laced a wisp of hair and tucked it neatly behind her ear. His finger lingered down tracing her jaw line sweetly to her lips. They were soft as flower petals. Her hand was posed to be taken against the floor. The Doctor could take it, but she would never know. How could I ever believe she would be safe? Tears bullied his eye. He could feel her heart die. His beat in solitude. There was no one left. The Doctor was alone again. Jenny could feel his emotion. It was enormous and crushed her from where she stood.

_This was supposed to be my life of second chances. I couldn't see her. All I ever wanted was the life SHE could provide me with. I never had sleepin' in till noon, or picnics in the park. I wanted it; and there it laid sprawled out in front of me, but here it lies now sprawled out in front of me._ The Doctor was a man of rules bound by convictions that were so bred into him, he never questioned them. The impulsive human Doctor took a deep breath and broke a rule that would have never even crossed a Time Lord's mind. He took her hand. Their lips met.

_I love you._


End file.
